Affiliates of the Faculty Center

The Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning belongs to a number of local, regional, and national/international organizations associated with faculty development.

POD Network: Professional and Organizational Development Network. POD is the national organization for faculty developers. POD believes that people have value, as individuals and as members of groups. The development of students is a fundamental purpose of higher education and requires for its success effective advising, teaching, leadership, and management. Central to POD's philosophy is lifelong, holistic, personal, and professional learning, growth, and change for the higher education community. The Three Purposes of POD are:

To provide support and services for its members through publications, conferences, consulting, and networking.

To offer services and resources to others interested in faculty development.

To fulfill an advocacy role, nationally, seeking to inform and persuade educational leaders of the value of faculty, instructional, and organizational development in institutions of higher education.

SRFIDC: Southern Regional Faculty and Instructional Development Consortium. The Southern Regional Faculty and Instructional Development Consortium (SRFIDC) is an organization of faculty and instructional development programs (teaching centers, instructional technology centers, faculty development committees, etc.) in two- and four-year degree-granting institutions in the greater South. Units in member institutions typically: focus on improving instructional effectiveness, have assigned staff, are funded, at least in part, by the institution, and offer services such as teaching enrichment workshops, consultations, mentoring programs, instructional technology support, etc. SRFIDC aims for a retreat-like feel to its annual event.

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. MERLOT is a free and open online community of resources designed primarily for faculty, staff and students of higher education from around the world to share their learning materials and pedagogy. MERLOT is a leading edge, user-centered, collection of peer reviewed higher education, online learning materials, catalogued by registered members and a set of faculty development support services. MERLOT's strategic goal is to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and quality of peer reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty designed courses. MERLOT's activities are based on the creative collaboration and support of its Individual Members, Institutional Partners, Corporate Partners and Editorial Boards. Integral to MERLOT's continuing development of faculty development support services are its major priorities:

Thomas WuCollege of Engineering and Computer Science
It
is both challenging and fascinating to be a teacher. In all the courses I teach,
I set high standards for myself and prepare carefully for each lecture. Besides
teaching technical materials, I train students to have the capabilities to: think
critically and analytically; work
hard and inno...

J. Blake ScottCollege of Arts and Sciences
Teachingis what sustains me as an academic. It fuels and, in turn, is fueled by myresearch in rhetoric, which emphasizes civic action, and by my communityservice. Some of the hallmarks of service-learning—active learning, problemsolving, critical reflection, and civic engagement—guide my overal...

Victoria LoerzelCollege of College of Nursing
As a nurse and educator, my teaching philosophy revolves around the belief that it is my responsibility to provide nursing students with a solid foundation for safe and appropriate nursing practice. I believe students are adult learners and should be self-motivated and in charge of their own learning. However, stu...